The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-18
A BABY In THE ASH CART
DUMPED ALIVE INTO A SCOW
WITH THE REFUSE.

It Was Nearly DEAD Wnen E1numeu
With a Pitchfork-None ofthe Drivers
Remember Picking Up the Basket in
Which the Wait Was Packed - 1t Is
Pretty Baby Boy, and His Life May
Yet Be Saved.
From the Ne,C York World.
The unfortunate little waif whose strange
and eventful career in an ash cart and sub
sequent finding in mountain OF garbage
and ashes on public scow at the foot OF
West Twelfth street during the first Sab
bath hour, was told yesterday, is still alive
and doing well.
When the little stranger was brought to
police headquarters at 1:l5 yesterday morn
ing he presented pitiable sight. The rough
handling he had received while en- route
from the area where the basket was found
and thrown into the cart, the ashes and
garbage which were thrown over it, and
probably half an hour later the being
dumped together with the load of filth dis
lance of Is feet to the scow alongside the
public dump. had considerably shaken up
the baby, loosened the few articles of cloth
ing that had been wrapped about it, and
completely coated its body and face in ashes
and other refuse.
With tears in her eyes and many express
sions of pity Matron Webb received her
charge from the officer that had carried 1t
| tenderly from the station house, yet seven
| hours later visitor TO Matron Webbs
| rooms was, at his request, shown the baby
| that had such a miraculous escape and
found it still begrimed with ashes and dirt
| On it's back, in a little crib behind the door,
| Law the little waif It's ears were still filled
with ashes and cinders, the little nostrils
were all but completely stopped with dirt,
| and while the mouth was comparatively
| free, the little sufferers eyelids were fairly
weighted down with ash dust. The wretched
| little being essayed to open its eyes, but the
instant the lids were partially raised the fine
ashes trickled into the sockets. The eyes
closed instantly, and the feeble cries of the
baby showed how severely the little one was
suffering.
The baby had been given little brandy
and milk by the Matron and then put into
the crib without being washed or cleaned IN
the least. When spoken to about it Mrs.
| Webb said that she had been up nearly all
| night looking after the dozen or more of
lost children that were brought in, and was
tired out. Then she instructed her servant
| to get some warm water with which to
battle the founding. Once clean, it pre-
| sented a better appearance, and proved to
be pretty baby. The boy, who is about
three or four weeks old, has black hair and
eyes, with long eyelashes, a small mouth
| and regularly cut features. Its body was
slightly emaciated and its face a little
pinched, having the appearance of starva-
ton.
As to where the stranger came from or
who abandoned him, everybody seems to be
in the dark. Strenuous efforts will, how
ever, be made to discover the guilty and
punish them as severely as the law will adj
init. The Fifteenth ward only has its garb-
age and ashes removed during the night,
| and the dump for that section of the city is
at the foot of West Twelfth street. Satur-
day night only four carts were engaged in
this task, and although the drivers of each
were closely questioned by World reporters
| Immediately after the finding of the waif,
no one knew aught of the basket The lat
ter is an ordinary receptacle, made of wide
| strips. 1t is about Is inches long by ~ wide,
and inches deep, with stiff handle. There
was just room enough in the basket to
squeeze in the child as it was wrapped in its
coverings. The latter consisted ,ofp long
white flannel skirt and an unbleached muslin
slip or dress.
In the bottom of the basket was last Fri
| days Daily NelUs and copy of the Morn
ing Journal of May 8. A long black stock
ing, much torn, had been doubled up and
placed under the child's head, presumably as
| pillow An old, ragged, black shawl with
white stripes was. wrapped about the boy,
and thus stuffed into close quarters he was
set adrift.
The scows on which the citys ashes and
refuse are removed are of two classeS-hat
and bin, the latter being self dumping scows.
The scow ON which the baby was found is a
fiat one. Had it been of the other kind the
little innocent would ere this have found a
/ n1.A H.,
any the wiser. The garbage on
the self-dumping scows goes direct
from the cart into the bin, and thence it is
dropped into the sea through the bottom of
the bin. Thus, it is never handled after it
is once thrown into the carts. On the other
hand, all the garbage and ashes dumped on
to the fiat scows have to be rehandled by
men known as trimmers, who are armed
with huge pitchforks having four broad and
sharp tines. Thus it was by the merest &C
cident that the child's life was saved. Hav-
ing escaped being drowned it was a miracle
that prevented its being smothered in the
ash heap, or, more horrible STILL impaled on
the tines of a trimmer's pitchfork
The fiat scows hold about 400 loads of
refuse and up to midnight Saturday this
one was about half full. At that time
three of the four carts dumped their loads
simultaneously. The fourth one had depos-
tied its load quarter of an hour previous.
The trimmers, of whom there are two on
each scow, had not handled any Of the
ashes dumped during the previous hour so
that there was an accumulation of at least
eight loads when they began their task At
1918 a. m. James Julian, one of the trim
mers, came upon the basket underneath a
load of ashes and other refuse, and, picking
it up on his fork, pitched it some ten or
fifteen feet away to even up the load. As
the basket rolled over the faint cry of an
infant startled those on the scow, who
listening for a moment heard the cry
repeated. 1t was traced to the basket, and
with bound, Pietro Barro, the head trim
mer jumped over the heaps of rubbish,
picked up the basket and tore off the ragged
and now filthy shawl.
my Godl' he shouted, "it's baby; live
baby" and with his strange find he scram-
bled up on the dock and into the little shanty
occupied by Timothy Sullivan, the night
Waterman. The basket was filed with
ashes, decayed vegetables and other rubbish,
which the kind-hearted man hastily re-
moved. The baby's face was as cold as
stone, and it gasped as if in rs death throes.
A fire was burning in a stove in the hut, and
Sullivan thawed out the little waif by hold
ing his large warm hand over it, Police
man Shanahan took the basket and its con-
tents to the Charles street station, and
thence Sergt. Granger sent IL TO Matron
Webb by Patrolman McCarton.
When the baby was brought into the sta
ton house Police Commissioner Voorhis was
present. He was the first to express pity for
4. IL